“Literature is the best thing humanity has. Poetry is the heart of literature, the highest concentration of everything that is the best in the world and in man. It is the only true food for your soul.” —Lyudmila Ulitskaya

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Every writer is in the free speech business.

— E. L. Doctorow

Stand with Us

New England has a long tradition of great writers and activists -- we're the land of John Updike and John Cheever, Sylvia Plath and Ann Sexton, Frederick Douglass and Henry David Thoreau, and Dubus and Dubus.

PEN's mission is to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Thank you for supporting our work to protect First Amendment rights to free speech, a free press, and the rights & obligations to dissent. And thank you for joining the ranks of our international community of writers from 150 PEN centers worldwide.

Benefits

Membership benefits include:

Fellowship in a regional, nationaland international community of writers, literary professionals, and advocates celebrating literature and supporting free expression